The painting depicts preparations for a royal hunt. A group of four nilgais, or blue bulls, are feeding in scrubland near a pond, while four imperial huntsmen dressed in green take shelter behind camouflage screens. In the far horizon, on the right, a distant hunting party approaches with elephants, horses, and flags. The reverse of the album page on which the painting was originally mounted had a European engraving depicting the story of Cain and Abel.

Provenance

Howard Hodgkin, London (ca. 1975); Private collection, New York and Miami (ca. 1982); [ Terence McInerney, New York, until 2005; sold to MMA]